Jun. 22nd, 2005

estepheia: (It's only a movie...)
Into the West rocks! No, it's not terribly ground breaking, it's not even terribly unpredictable so far, but if you have a thing for American Natives and the Lakota language and subtitles, and visions, and parallel montage, and if you liked Dances With Wolves or A Man Called Horse then this is just the thing for you. The story is pretty archetypal, the photography beautiful, the pacing intelligent. I am reminded of Hanta Yo and the Harka-books that I read as a teenager. I just watched the first part and can't wait for the second. Although I must admit that there hasn't been an overabundance of Westerns movies lately, so I'm a bit starved...

And since I'm talking about Western shows/movies, here's a list of my favorites:

- Outlaw Josey Wales - because I love how the movie plays with clichés and the way the characters end up together almost by accident
- High Plains Drifter - because the idea is nifty, and it's fun watching Clint screw the towns people. Plus great twist at the end.
- Unforgiven - because its a masterpiece of disenchantment but not entirely cynical (and Clint rocks!)
- Once Upon a Time in the West - because of music, camera angles, and the sparse diaglogue. A classic!
- El Dorado and Rio Bravo - because the banter is good, the heros are broken, and friendship rules. Leigh Brackett rocked!
- Support your Local Sheriff - because it's funny and charming and I adore James Garner.
- Big Country - because Gregory Peck makes a wonderfully resourceful greenhorn.
- Silverado - because both story and cast are excellent. Plus it's pretty.
- Dances With Wolves - because it's beautiful and Kicking Bird is cute.
- True Grit - because John Wayne is so wonderfully grumpy.
- Man in the Wilderness - bizarre but fascinating story about the power of sheer stubbornness.
- Little Big Man - because... well, do you really need to ask?

When I was a kid I read what I could about American Indians, I even tried to take Indian names apart in order to create my own vocabulary of Indian terms. And while I'm otherwise a pretty forgetful person, I can still tell you that matto = bear, sapa = black, uitko = crazy or wild, etc.
estepheia: (Writing)
Has anyone on my flist ever read any books by Jack Bickham (like e.g. Scene & Structure)? He writes books on writing. The Amazon reviews are favorable, but I'm still undecided. I would like to buy a few more good book son writing so I can prepare my course, and I am allowed to order books for the seminar library, so now I'm looking for recommendations. Which books on creative writing can you recommend? I'm thinking not so much about stuff like Bird by Bird, by Anne Lamont, but more along the lines of Ansen Dibbell's Plot (which I'm so going to order for the library).
Please please please give me recs. Or anti-recs. Recs for books on screenplay-writing and books on poetry would not go amiss either. *makes puppy eyes*

Found it!

Jun. 22nd, 2005 12:28 pm
estepheia: (Chance)
Whoohooo, I found my BA certificate (it was in a completely different place than what I expected, not in a folder but in a brown manila, tsk). Also, another kindergarten mom just took Toyah until 4 pm today. Which means I can teach without interruptions today. Yay.

Can't find the torrent for last Blind Justice epi. :-(
I intend to write a The Inside vs The Closer analysis later...
Will now try to spend a few minutes on Four Fear. Fanfic? What's that? Oh yeah, I think I remember... *gets faraway stare*

Profile

estepheia: (Default)
estepheia

August 2017

S M T W T F S
  12345
6789 101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
2728293031  

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Jun. 9th, 2025 12:36 pm
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios